Su-25 Frogfoot ideas

[Weaver]

Okay, well since Art Model have just put out an Su-25 2-seater ( http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,28209.0/topicseen.html ) let's have a thread for all things Frogfoot. Can 't believe there isn't one already actually (if there is, mods please merge).

What strikes me looking at the two-seater is the possibility of making it a Fouga product, like a giant Magister: it's got long wings, twin engines in the roots and a heavily framed tandem canopy near the nose, all it would need is a V-tail and tip tanks.... If you wanted to go further, you could lower the wing position to the middle of the pods and relocate the undercarriage in the wings.

The limitation of the Su-25 has always been it's engines. Because it was developed as something of a "side project" they used non-afterburning MiG-21 engines becuase they were cheap, but given it's flight envelope, A-10 style high-bypass turbofans would be a better idea. You could imagine the original engine nacelles removed and new turbofans mounted above the wing roots, or even a Sukhoi/Antonov colaboration, with the overwing engines mounted above the leading edge of the wing and blowing USB-style over modified flaps for STOL capability. The latter would probably need a stretched rear fuselage for CofG reasons and a raised tailplane so that the deflecting jetwash didn't impinge on it as it swung down.

[ChernayaAkula]

No thread for the Frogfoot? 
"ysi-maniac" posted two profiles of what they thought the Su-25 would actually look like when first satellite pics of the RAM-J appeared (LINK). They also thought that podded engines above the wing "A-10 style" would be the way to go.
I did a series of profiles based on these "artists' impressions". Here are two of them (a couple more can be found HERE):

[Weaver]

Oh yes I remember those - nicely done! 

Does make you wonder what the original artist was thinking though: why would a close-support aircraft have a socking great radome, and if that gun is half as powerful as it looks, then the fairing it sits in is about a third the size it should be....

[PR19_Kit]

all it would need is a V-tail and tip tanks.... If you wanted to go further, you could lower the wing position to the middle of the pods and relocate the undercarriage in the wings.

...and even longer wings. 

[ChernayaAkula]

<...> why would a close-support aircraft have a socking great radome, and if that gun is half as powerful as it looks, then the fairing it sits in is about a third the size it should be....

Yeah, that had me scratching my head as well. Especially the radome, which wouldn't look out of place on a bigger interceptor.

[jcf]

... or mount the turbofans under the wings ala the Northrop A-9A.